Postscript from Michigan at Maryland men's lacrosse

Freshman midfielder Jared Bernhardt is tied for sixth on the team in shots with 32 for No. 9 Maryland, but coach John Tillman has a simple wish: take some more.

"With Jared, he's such a selfless guy," Tillman said after Bernhardt scored three goals on six attempts and added one assist in the Terps' 15-8 victory over No. 19 Michigan at Maryland Stadium on Saturday. "We're trying to let him feel like, 'Hey, if there's something there, don't be afraid to take it. Don't look back.' And he's been great with that, and I thought this was his most aggressive game."

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Bernhardt is one of five players with at least 13 goals this season and shooting better than 30 percent for Maryland (6-2, 1-0 Big Ten). While acknowledging that he can be more proactive in pressing the issue against opposing goalkeepers, he said his biggest priority is being a productive cog in the offense.

"Coach talks about being selfless," Bernhardt said. "It's a team game. If someone's open, pass it to him, and obviously, if the shot's open, you want to take it. You just want to make the best decision possible."

Bernhardt was one of three Maryland players who had three goals and one assist Saturday as he was joined by senior attackman Dylan Maltz and junior midfielder Connor Kelly. Senior attackman Matt Rambo contributed two goals and two assists, but senior attackman Colin Heacock (Boys' Latin) finished with only one goal.

Wolverines coach John Paul said the Terps' balance on offense can be overwhelming.

"They're in the Final Four every year, so it's created problems for a lot of teams," he said. "There's no question that when you play an elite team – which is what we're trying to build ourselves towards – they don't really have any obvious weaknesses. There is a lot of balance. … They're efficient offensively, and it's hard to find a spot you can attack. So it's not about us trying to junk it up and figure out ways to manufacture things. We left plays on the field."

1) Penalties. Michigan (8-2, 0-1) entered the contest ranked third in Division I in man-up offense after converting 55.6 percent of its chances. The Wolverines had three extra-man opportunities, but only scored on one against a Maryland man-down group that was the second-stingiest in the league. Tillman, however, noted that the team lacked some of the intensity and focus in the fourth quarter that it had in the first three, which contributed to a few more fouls that allowed Michigan to retain possession.

"We need to be able to put 60 minutes together," he said. "We came out strong, and then all of a sudden we had some lulls, we had some breakdowns, we had some fouls. We didn't do as well defensively kind of knowing some things."

2) Faceoffs. Michigan junior Mike McDonnell had won 57.5 percent (103 of 179) of his faceoffs and appeared in the first quarter to hold his own against Maryland sophomore Austin Henningsen (51.9 percent on 67-for-129 for 2017). But the Terps then turned to senior Jon Garino Jr., who went 8-for-12 and scooped up five ground balls. McDonnell finished 8-for-18, but the Wolverines were forced to go to sophomore long-stick midfielder Nick DeCaprio (3-for-9) against Garino. Paul said Maryland's depth on draws can be a significant disadvantage for opponents.

"[Garino] came in and started winning, so we had to go to our pole, who did a good job," Paul said. "But early, the key there was their wings getting the ball back for them when we won the draw, and then when they went to [Garino], he got a little bit of momentum until we put our pole on him. They do a great job with their faceoff crew because they have two guys who are so different in their styles. So you can try to prepare for that, but it's hard to prepare for two guys who are so completely different in the way they face off."

3) Tommy Heidt. The redshirt sophomore goalkeeper's lofty numbers (tied for fifth in the nation in save percentage, ranked eighth in goals-against average and 21st in saves per game) are going to dip when the Division I statistics are updated. He surrendered 13 goals and made just seven saves before getting pulled for senior Robbie Zonino in the final 12:10 of regulation. But Tillman said Maryland had success against Heidt because the offense moved the ball quickly to expose gaps in Michigan's defense.

"I thought in the first quarter, we did a really good job of sharing and moving and moving," Tillman said. "There were times when they'd have an invert defense. If you go behind, they'll jump in a defense, and if we don't have anything, the ball can tend to die there. The guys just didn't let it die. They'd move it up the side and move it up, and all of a sudden, they'd get out of that, and then we tried to keep attacking, attacking. I thought the guys did a really good job of just trusting that if we kept the ball flowing and played in a rhythm and guys just moved off-ball, we'd get some opportunities."